Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; March 1475 – 18 February 1564), was an
Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the
High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of
Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since also been described as one of the greatest artists of all time. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal
Renaissance man, along with his fellow Italian
Leonardo da Vinci.